Galaxy defeat first-place Real Salt Lake

Right on call, with 10 games left in the season, the Galaxy start to get interested.

Of course, they had to fall behind in the second half to do it Saturday night. So just when they faced the prospect of falling 10 points out of first place in the Western Conference standings, Robbie Keane got started on a hat trick and the Galaxy scored a runaway 4-2 victory over Real Salt Lake at StubHub Center.

“We’ve been playing pretty well for a while and tonight we certainly dug a little bit of a hole but showed a lot of character to come back,” Galaxy coach Bruce Arena said. “We are playing well, therefore I think results are going to come.”

The victory tightens the standings considerably and, suddenly, the Galaxy (11-9-4) are in fourth place but only four points behind first-place Salt Lake (12-8-5).

They did it with a new goalkeeper, with 31-year-old Jaime Penedo taking over for Carlo Cudicini. Coming off a stellar performance in the Gold Cup in which his country reached the final before falling to the United States, Penedo made a key save on Alvaro Saborio early in the second half after not being needed to stop a shot in the first half.

“Of course I was nervous,” Penedo said. “But everything was normal. I just prepared the same way I always prepare, I prepared myself physically, mentally. This was a big challenge for me so I wanted to do good.

“Saborio, obviously I know him through facing him in World Cup qualifiers with Costa Rica and I know he has a very dangerous right foot, so that (save) helped a little bit there.”

The Galaxy, coming off a 3-3 tie with FC Dallas in which Landon Donovan picked up a hat trick, got going after Salt Lake took the lead.

Keane took possession of a pass from Juninho at the top of the penalty area and switched the ball from his left foot as Salcedo left a divot in the grass while sliding by. Keane’s low shot went into the corner of the net to tie the game.

In the 67th minute, two minutes after Sean Franklin replaced Hector Jimenez at midfield, Franklin sent a crossing pass in front of the goal. Keane beat Salcedo to the ball, left his feet and redirected his shot past goalkeeper Nick Rimando.

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“We’re starting to catch fire a little bit and with back-to-back hat tricks by Robbie and Landon, that’s not bad,” Galaxy defender Todd Dunivant said. “We’re going to keep getting the ball to those guys in dangerous positions and they’re going to cause teams a lot of trouble.”

Eight minutes later, the Galaxy took a 3-1 lead when defender Omar Gonzalez, who was just signed to a designated player contract on Thursday, out-jumped defender Nat Borchers on a corner kick and headed the ball past Rimando for a 3-1 lead.

Gonzalez immediately got in the face of Borchers after the defender had tried to muscle Gonzalez out of the play.

“There was a little bit of smack-talking before the ball was hit. Borchers was talking some smack, but I think I got the last laugh,” Gonzalez said. “We were still going at it the next couple of chances that I got and I wish I would have put those in, too.”

Franklin set up Keane again as the onslaught continued. This time, Franklin lobbed a pass from the center of the field and Keane tracked it down, again beating Salcedo to the spot. Keane, who now has 10 goals to go with nine assists this season, then lobbed a shot over Rimando to make it 4-1 and complete a four-goal outburst that took only 30 minutes.

Former Galaxy forward Robbie Findley, a reserve, scored off a scramble only a moment before the final whistle.

Before the game even started, the drama off the field continued to build for the Galaxy. Cudicini, brought in before the season to inherit the starting slot, was left off the 18-man roster.

Also left off the 18-man roster was midfielder Robbie Rogers, who looked to be turning a corner as he played his way into shape after joining the Galaxy after the season started. It was the second consecutive game Rogers was not made available by Arena.